Movies

Recent films of note:

"Mel Gibson's Apocalypto"
Ultra-gory and violent - and at times, totally beautiful... and dumb. I think that you always have the include his name in the title.

"The Death of Mr. Lazarescu"
A total bummer, from Romania. Sort of like a more personal "Bringing Out The Dead" on tranquilizers.

"4"
The Russian semi-surrealist/sci-fi film by Ilya Khrzhanovsky. It kind of goes nowhere, but you enjoy the ride, nonetheless.

Near misses:

"Cleo from 5 to 7" ("Cleo de 5 a 7") - by Agnès Varda. A curiosity.

"Inside Man" - a suspenseful, if predictable, bank heist film.

"Don't Come Knocking" - by one of my favorite directors, Wim Wenders... it definitely had his imprint. There was a lot of "Paris, Texas" in this one. Still, nice enough to watch. "Land Of Plenty" was decent, too, but it kind of felt like a mish-mash of other Wenders films, as well.

"Dead Man's Shoes" - I am a huge fan of Paddy Considine. It was weird to see him on the screen, looking like he just walked out of a Miguel Angel Martin comic. Pretty intense stuff.

Misses:

"The Wild Blue Yonder" - increasingly, these Werner Herzog "experiments" don't do it for me.

"Calvaire" - maybe I just don't like Belgian ultra-violence... this one bored me, and it seemed kind of dumb. It had exactly two really good moments for me, both near the beginning. I think that I was the only person who disliked "Man Bites Dog," too...


--- And on television, I have really enjoyed the latest seasons of "The Wire" (HBO) and "Sleeper Cell" (Showtime) - the latter of which was aired like a mini-series. I thought that "Dexter" (Showtime) was fun, but it was nothing to write home about. Recent news of "The Shield" being pushed back from January to April is bumming me out...